Retail Store

In today's tough economy, the fight for share-of-customer by shops to effectively capture sales has not been fiercer. Retail stores that relax and wait for the economy to improve will have a very long road to recovery. Aggressive retailers which are after sales by working the critical three-mile business radius surrounding their store will not only survive for the short term but will prosper once the economy turns positive - and it will!



Local Business

Local Store Marketing (LSM) ought to be a critical, constant component for driving retail sales. Oftentimes, it forms the building blocks for your customer "point-of-differentiation" and several LSM tactics can be executed from your existing staff for very little money. Retailers should look at the following tips to prop up their sales:


Retail Store

• Improve Visibility: Has your store join the landscape? Have you become retail wallpaper? Create excitement outside of your four walls to draw in attention to your store. A-frame boards at the street; cold-air balloons on your own roof; mascots waving in crowds; search lights; etc. all create and increase visibility.


• Nudge Your visitors: For those retailers which have customers' lists - get in touch with your customers by emailing or calling -- inviting rid of it to your retail store. It merely requires a friendly reminder to maintain your retail store top-of-mind. A customer list is only powerful when it is utilized.


• Create Customer Loyalty: Introduce a customer loyalty card and supply incentives for your core customers to visit your stores more frequently. Start using these same loyalty incentives to show casual customers into core customers.


• Start Product Sampling: Wish to entice trial of your core products? Deliver product samples to surrounding businesses inside the three-mile radius around your shop. Be sure to hand out flyers with your product samples, then watch the sales roll in.


• Create New Customers: Establish new relationships inside your three-mile radius with local business owners by offering gift packages of one's proprietary products; contact local hotels and businesses to advertise your products to hotel guests and business owners; and set up meetings with the local chamber and surrounding schools or churches to hype your shop as a great venue for next event.


• Launch Special Recognition Days: Everybody wants to be recognized, so create an event at your retail store that recognizes and appreciates certain sets of customers such as specific businesses; age ranges (i.e. kid's day); or student specials.


These are merely a few proven LSM tactics a retail store can begin to implement immediately for little or no cost. Local Store Marketing is critical to your overall online marketing strategy and a must in the present tight economy. One of the most successful retailers win the battle for customer traffic since they make an operational resolve for local store marketing. They know local store marketing captures the entire customer base in the critical three-mile radius surrounding their store. Furthermore, they know that implementing local store marketing is low cost or no cost. Successful retailers effectively infuse their year- long promotional campaigns with local store marketing, developing a strong sales foundation for sustained and long-term growth-and you can too!


The decision is yours: you can either choose the passive route -- letting business energy or failure be predicated on customers deciding on your store--OR you can aggressively maximize the sales opportunities in your three-mile business area. Prudent store operators manage their marketplaces with LSM to maximise every sales opportunity.